Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Gingham and Buffalo Plaids

I really like my buffalo plaid tunic style shirts and leggings I purchased last year.  I practically live in them during the winter months as they are so cosy.  I usually wear them open style with different colored shirts underneath.

These shirts inspired me to make some buffalo plaid inspired jewelry pieces.  These all coordinate and as they are all interchangeable, can be worn a variety of ways.  Any colored pieces shown here are all in the Pantone Fall 2021 Fashion color Fire Whirl and Black.

Large interchangeable "snap" on a cork "snap base necklace"

Buffalo Plaid interchangeable "snap" on a cork bracelet and necklace

Buffalo Plaid Post Earrings

All the interchangeable snaps and jewelry pieces shown here are available in the Shuswap Artisan Market in Sorrento BC, Shear FX Studio in Chase BC and in my online store.

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Sweater Print Snaps for the Holidays

I can hardly believe how much time has lapsed since my last post.  Right after I had urgent eye surgery.  I had another hole in my retina repaired -- this was the second time but this time in my other eye.  I had to be careful for 3 weeks after -- no stooping, hanging my head down, bending over or lifting anything more than 5 lbs -- which meant I couldn't really do much.  I did manage to rest up which was a good thing.  Right afterwards, however, I ended up with an intense pain in my arm -- mainly my elbow.  Today I am finally feeling a bit more back to normal but babying that arm so as to not aggravate it any more than I have to.  I am discovering that aging really sucks and wish I could trade a few body parts in for some new ones!

So I did manage to finish off some items which will be delivered to the Artisan Market in Sorrento and Shear FX Hair Studio in Chase later this week -- that is as long as the weather cooperates.  We have had some huge torrential rain storms resulting in major flooding in our part of Canada.

Where I live (interior BC) is fine, however the flooding destroyed all of the highways between us and the coast.  This means that there is only essential travel to the coast and supplies are being transported through at a snail's pace.  Canada Post put our area on a yellow alert which means that the mail service will be very sporadic and extremely slow for a long time.  So if you are planning on ordering anything from my online store, please allow an extra week or so for delivery. 

So here are some Christmas sweater themed pieces I created using more silkscreens from Tonja Lenderman.  I really love the sweater designs which were fun to create with.  All of these pieces are on a snap so they can be interchanged.





I have added some of these pieces to my online storeThe necklaces shown in the above photo are cork in (off) white and available in many different colors.

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

More Silkscreens by Tonja on Pantone Fall Fashion Colors in a "Snap"

I have been busy finishing off more new pieces in the Pantone fall fashion colors.  These pieces have been screen printed using the silkscreens from Tonja (see previous post here) and the Pantone colors, Mykonos Blue and Fuchsia Fedora.  They are not completely finished as I still need to add a snap to the back so they can work with my interchangeable collection.  I create all my pieces this way so they are more functional.  This way they can be worn as a necklace, or snap them onto a scarf cinch or shawl stick, etc.

Pantone Color Mykonos Blue
Silkscreens by Tonja Lenderman


Pantone Color Fuchsia Fedora
Swirling Vines Silkscreen by Tonja Lenderman

I have a tutorial lesson on how to adapt your polymer clay patterns into "snaps".  It is a fun way to create a unique line of interchangeable jewelry.


Right now I have my lesson, "Snap Decisions" * on sale until this Sunday (no coupon needed).  There is a bonus offer if you purchase both parts 1 & 2 of my lesson -- a personal and permanent coupon code for 25% off any purchases from my DIY snap supplies categories.

Friday, October 8, 2021

Combining Pantone Fall Fashion Colors with Tonja's Silkscreens

I created some new polymer clay pieces in the Pantone fall colors with more silk screen patterns.  I was wanting some new designs so ordered several silkscreens by Tonja Lenderman.  She has some really unique patterns and I selected the ones that would work well on smaller pieces of clay such as earrings and snaps.  Many of the silkscreens out there have quite a bit of open "space" and  work best when creating larger items.

The colors here I started with were in the Pantone Fall colors Pale Rosette and Spring Lake.

Snaps in Pale Rosette & Spring Lake
Silkscreen prints by Tonja

The silkscreen below is called Zen Waves and is fun to work with.  I used the Pantone color Spring Lake and printed it in white. 

Silkscreen by Tonja
Printed on Snaps in the Pantone Fall color Spring Lake

Large (unfinished) "Snaps"

I really like the Mini Gingham - Hound's Tooth pattern.  I wanted to experiment a bit first without using too much clay so I positioned the silkscreen in the center of the clay sheet and printed a partial section of each side.  A little sheet of clay can go a long ways when making snaps, earrings or other small jewelry pieces.

Pale Rosette
Silkscreen Mini Gingham-Hounds Tooth by Tonja

Cork Bracelet with Interchangeable snaps in Pale Rosette

I mixed up a third clay color of my own -- a rich autumn gold that matches the cork jewelry pieces that are my own design and create.

Cork Necklace with matching clay "snaps"

This is another tip for saving time and clay with your silkscreen project.  Sometimes I will roll out clay in two different colors.  I will butt them up together to create one complete sheet and then silkscreen over the entire area.

Pale Rosette and Autumn Gold Clay
Swirling Vines Silkscreen by Tonja Lenderman


The Scalloped Lace silkscreen is really elegant.  I did the same with creating a half sheet each of the same two colors.  The design is very intricate and works really well for my small jewelry snaps and earrings.





I have a few more silkscreens that I haven't played with yet so will share my results a little later with you.

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Fall Pantone Colors Leprechaun & Olive Branch

The last two clay recipes I need to share with you from the Pantone Fall Fashion colors this year are the greens -- Leprechaun and Olive Branch.  Personally Olive Branch is my favorite shade of green, however,  Leprechaun is a rich vibrant hue that, surprisingly, I quite like.


Olive Branch is actually one of the Pantone neutrals and has a real earthy tone so both greens are quite different from each other.  Mixing up the clay, however, you will notice that both of them contain my Olive base (recipe #7-8) from my Color System.

So here are the recipes using Kato clay.  I will have the recipe cards ready to download tomorrow.

Leprechaun

6 parts Kato Green
1 part Olive # 7-8 *

Olive Branch

8 parts Olive # 7-8 *
1 part Kato Black

* Note:  These clay color recipes are created using Kato Polyclay.  Any of the base color "mixes" used are from my Clay Color System.

Sunday, September 26, 2021

Fall Pantone Colors Root Beer, Soybean and Adobe

Browns have not been a popular color for some time now (I hardly sell anything in brown) and so I was surprised to see two shades this season.  They do combine well, however, with the other seasonal colors in this new palette.


I filled these stainless steel buttons with clay in the fall Pantone colors.  They have a linen-like texture and look similar to the post earrings I also make.  They are sold individually in my online store for mixing and matching.  I also have the empty button frames available in the DIY section of my online store here.


These buttons are in a small size making them very suitable for baby or children's knit or crochet wear and will also work on a man's shirt or ladies blouse.  They can be placed in a washing machine or dryer but do not dry clean as the chemicals are too harsh and can damage the clay.

So here are the recipes using Kato clay:

Root Beer

5 parts Burnt Umber # 3-2 *
1 part Kato Pearl

Soybean

4 parts Ecru Base # 2-7 *
1/2 part Kato Yellow
1 part White Mix # 1-2 *
1/2 part Kato Silver

Adobe

1 part Burnt Umber # 3-2 *
1 part Kato Brown
1 part Ecru Base # 2-7 *
1 part Kato Gold
1/2 part Kato Magenta


* Note:  These clay color recipes are created using Kato Polyclay.  Any of the base color "mixes" used are from my Clay Color System.